SF-002: "Shadowhue Forest"

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Mission Information:

Phosphor squinted down at the mission in his hands with a frown. The items wouldn't be the hard part, but tracking down the client without being able to see them... yeah, that was high-stakes if he messed it up, so he was a little nervous. The Ralts shifted his weight, trying to come up with a game plan. He could probably sense the client via emotions? The damn ability actually came in handy for once, who figured.

The wrench in the plan was the weird bird pokemon.

The little pink-and-blue 'mon had somehow gotten itself tangled upside down in a tree, it's gears whirling sadly as it tried to free itself. Phosphor lifted an eyebrow, trying to figure out how to get the stranger down. "Er... do you need help?" He offered, a bit awkwardly, but with good enough intentions.

"Hello." It answered, because 'hello' is how you begin a conversation. The pokemon flapped it's flippers(?) in a rather sad attempt to escape it's current predicament, before finally offering what it considered a concise explanation. "I am stuck."

Phosphor's Energy: 3
Tec's Energy: 9

Alki flinched at the monotone of the odd pokemon. He didn't mean anything by it, she was sure, but given how flat his voice was, she couldn't quite be sure that he wasn't upset at her. "A-Ah, sorry..." She offered in a whisper, before allowing Phosphor to guide her away from... wherever she was, and towards where she needed to be. Even with the older pokemon's reassurance, she still found herself struggling to open her eyes. Once she finally did, the jigglypuff was greeted by way too many children. Arceus, some of them were older than her!

"A-Ah..." She stammered, shrinking behind Phosphor as she allowed him to take the lead on this one yet again. Talking had never been her strong suit, and she was more than content to be useless as usual if she didn't have to address the army of Pokemon before them. ...If she weren't in the guild, would she have to be in a classroom like that one? She was smaller than almost everyone there...

Phosphor's best attempts at conversation fizzled out, and as the forest was filled with nothing but the frustrated sounds of school-children denied their field trip, Alki found herself taking a timid step out from behind the Ralts, waving a hand at the children - Were they older than her? Could she really call them children?

"I, A-Ah, Um, H-Hullo, I-I'm... Erm... G-Grey rank, I... W-White rank soon, a-and..." Alki offered, her voice hardly clearing the distance between herself and the children. Could they even hear her? "Wanna see a cool move?!" She cried out,much louder than before. The jigglypuff lifted her shadow up from where it rested on the ground, extending it higher and higher, wider and wider, in as impressive a display as she could muster. At this point, it towered far above her own height, and her arm trembled as it struggled to maintain the illusion. After all, this was all it was. It looked cool, but her hidden power had long ago ceased being an actual attack. The larger it got, the weaker it became, after all, but with any luck, this would be enough to impress them. Right?

Alki took the liberty of wrapping a bit of the shadow around herself. It was oddly comforting, even if it didn't actually do anything. Even if it was only a foolish, meaningless display, even the smallest bit of protection from the outside world did wonders to ease the girl's nerves.

The unimpressed children let out a series of woahs! as Alki's shadow rose above her, dozens of wide eyes set on the child. Phosphor wasn't jealous. He definitely wasn't jealous of the small child being cooler than him in the eyes of these kids. A lot cooler than him, clearly. "See, Alki? Knew they'd love you." The Ralts teased, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring pat on the head.

Tec floated forward. There were many pokemon. This would, naturally, require many hellos. "Hello." He started, looking at each of them in turn. By the time Phosphor realized what he was about to do, it was too late. "Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello-" Oh, Zacian. Please don't be broken, weird pokemon, because Phosphor didn't have a clue how to fix him.

... was he already broken? That would explain a couple things.

Phosphor's Energy: 11
Tec's Energy: 11

(Using an oran berry on each, +1 from natural regen.)

Venusian carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Venusian carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Alki giggled nervouly, lowering her shadow as the group of school-children talked amongst themselves. They were impressed by it...? But didn't they know it was... Well, no, never-mind that. It did the job. That was enough, and-

She jumped as she felt a touch behind her ears, only to realize that it belonged to the Ralts. Phosphor was smiling at her, and offered some encouraging words, yet the only thing Alki could think to do in response was the same nervous, goofy laugh. "Y-Y-You t-think...?" She tacked on lamely, letting her shadow creep back into it's normal spot.

Alki turned to get her bearings, first trying to find the strange, monotone Pokemon. He seemed to be... What was he doing...? To her growing horror, he was addressing... each one of the children. One by one. And the teachers, too. Oh, Arceus... The jigglypuff teleported to his side, tugging on a... leg...? Flipper? Wing...? Trying to get his attention before the children thought he was even weirder than they already did. "T-Tec, y-you don't... j-just... s-say hello once... P-Please..."

Surely, Mimikyu was almost done by now, and-

"Ok!" She heard a voice from a nearby bush, its leaves rustling, and she sharply took in breath, resisting the urge to close her eyes in fear. What if the Mimikyu had put the costume on wrong, or what if he hadn't noticed some tear, or-

No. He was fine. She was fine. He seemed rather small, and a tiny bit goofy. Was that mean? She supposed he couldn't help it. Unless he wanted to really hurt people, but...

...Did this mean they were done here?

(8 Energy + 1 from new page)

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Alki's tug had drawn his attention just as he had hovered up to a Pinsir, giving her a polite "Hello." Tec paused, tilting his head as he tried to understand the logic behind the Jigglypuff's request. You do not just say hello once... so he should continue on his current course. Confident that he had understood correctly, he continued on his path, floating up to an amused Ambipom and a stern looking Noctowl teacher. ... he'd be fine, Phosphor figured, these were responsible adults. They'd figure out where the odd little guy came from and help him back home.

Also, his pride couldn't take any more of a beating. Now was the time to part ways with the odd pokemon before he had any more of his image dredged through the mud. Being shown up by the little kid was bad enough! Wasn't he supposed to be the one looking after her? The Mimikyu gently wiggled his way through past a pair of Shroomish. The doofy smile on his new costume looked oddly fitting as he... wobbled. That was the word Phosphor landed on, he wobbled towards them, the top heavy head of his costume bobbing.

"Thank you, really! It means a lot to me, I dunno what I would have done if you didn't show up. I'll be really careful with this one!" He managed to dip his costume's head in what Phosphor suspected was supposed to be a light bow. His movements were a bit clunky, but he'd take it in the spirit it was meant. ... it was nice to help out.

He had momentarily forgotten how embarrassed he was, basking in the Mimikyu's gratitude, until... he heard grating, mocking laughter from schoolchildren. He tensed in that moment, his hands balling into fists. It sparked something low and ugly in his stomach, reminding him way too much of the bullies that used to pick on Tsera when they were little.

Turning his head revealed a group of grass-types gathered together, two Exeggcutors, two Bellsprouts, two Shroomish. Bad things come in pairs, huh? "Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello." He continued, giving each of them a nod in turn. They were laughing - at the porygon, clearly, who had obliviously continued on his way to say yet another hello to a Heracross.

"Hey, he doesn't know better. Play nice." He huffed. It was embarrassing, but... he couldn't help but feel the need to defend the strange pokemon. He clearly didn't mean harm. As he chewed out the group of children, though, he could see a Honchkrow and a Shedinja - parents, maybe? - looking at him like he was Giratina incarnate. Maybe he should have stayed in his lane. It wasn't like the Porygon noticed or minded... no. No, that wasn't right and he knew it, he reminded himself, clinging on to that hint of resolve.

A Flabebe floated up to him and Alki apologetically, giving a nod. "You know how rowdy kids can be... don't worry, we'll have everything under control." He assured them, shooting a gentle smile. Phosphor hoped he could trust him. Teachers were pretty useless in his experience. A frown flickered across his face before he managed to smother it. They'd done their guild job, so it was time to go. Darcy would probably get worried if they were gone for too long.

"Yeah. Alright. Thanks for helping me on the mission, Alki, you did great." And he meant it, she really had. He could have handled the costume repair on his own, but amusing a group of kids... yeah, he would have made an even bigger clown of himself without the Jigglypuff there. "Let's go check in with Darcy, alright? I'm sure she'll be proud!"

(... may have forgotten Phosphor was burned last page. Luckily he'd still have the 10 energy for his rolls from using the oran berry. Using two Heal Seeds to fix up Tec and Phosphor, and complete the errands for this season.)